Texas Church Members Gather For Private Service Sunday

SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, TX — Members of the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas — the site of the worst mass shooting in Texas history — have scheduled a Sunday service a week after a gunman mowed down 26 congregants and injured another 20.

The service was originally scheduled to take place in an adjacent community center, but a crowd of more than 500 people showing up for the memorial service prompted a move to a nearby baseball field, according to reports Sunday.

Sherri Pomeroy, wife of the church's pastor, Frank Pomeroy, also struck down media reports the church would be immediately razed after undergoing damage from gunfire. Instead, the church has been converted into a makeshift memorial for the victims ahead of Sunday's service next door, and was opened to the public on Sunday.

"We have actually been completely redoing and painting and will b[e] done today as a memorial," a text message shared by a community on Facebook on Saturday read. "Inside will be 26 chairs for each of the victimes and their name placed on them in calligraphy to be as a memorial."

The Pomeroys lost their 14-year-old daughter, Annabelle, in the Nov. 5 attack after she opted to attend service that Sunday while her parents were out of town. The grieving mother has since replaced her own photo with the image of her late daughter on Facebook.

Eleven people remain hospitalized after last Sunday's massacre that entered the annals of crime as the worst mass shooting in state history and the nation's most prolific such killing inside a house of worship.

Also via Facebook, the pastor's wife said he had turned over his cell phone to a messaging service given the avalanche of texts and messages conveying support and prayers.

"While we appreciate every single one of you, we could not handle the volume of requests and well wishes we were getting on his phone," she wrote. "Please know your messages and texts are being logged and recorded for us to cherish later when we have time to breathe. Right now we had to give up something so we could tend to everyday business as well as grieve and still tend to the flock as much as possible."

Photo: First responders join in prayer following a Veterans Day event, Saturday, Nov. 11, 2017, near the Sutherland Springs First Baptist Church, in Sutherland Springs, Texas. A man opened fire inside the church in the small South Texas community on Sunday, killing more than two dozen. Photo by Eric Gay/Associated Press